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SI Complains About Ballpark Food

RUSH: We go to the Charlotte, North Carolina. Gary, I'm glad you waited. Welcome to the program, sir.

CALLER: Rush, thank you for taking my call.

RUSH: You bet.

CALLER: And congratulations on your marriage --

RUSH: Thank you.

CALLER: -- and many decades of happiness.

RUSH: Thank you very much, sir. Appreciate that.

CALLER: I've been listening for a while, and it seems to me like your blood pressure was up a little bit earlier so I'm happy to be able to change gears a little bit. I wanted to point out to you, if you haven't seen it, the banner story on Sports Illustrated's website right now is --

RUSH: This is the main Sports Illustrated website, not the baseball website, not the football website, not hockey, not basketball, the main Sports Illustrated website?

CALLER: The main page, yes, sir.

RUSH: And the banner for the lead story has something to do with race. Nine times out of ten their lead story has to do with race, does this have anything to do with race?

CALLER: Actually it does not.

RUSH: Wow, that's odd. Are you sure there's not a racial component to this story that's the lead item at Sports Illustrated?

CALLER: Unless it involves food. When I went to look at it, as I was having my lunch, my jaw dropped. The story is on gluttony at the ballpark, and it's talking about the alarming new trend of unhealthy food at the ballpark. And if you go into the story, they're quoting the American Medical Association, the obesity statistics, you know, I'm just wondering if they're going to start checking my body mass index to get into the ball game.

RUSH: I doubt it. The ballpark is the one place where that kind of eating is encouraged because of the concession prices.

CALLER: I know. It just seems to me that this is all kinda ties in with all the discussion of obesity and --

RUSH: Wouldn't you say that the discussion of gluttony in the ballpark, i.e., what people eat and a sports website, Sports Illustrated deciding that it's too much that people are eating, the wrong stuff, would you say this has a political component to it?

CALLER: Well, it sure seems like that to me.

RUSH: Most definitely. Who's making food political?

CALLER: They actually ask the question in the article, "Is it socially responsible for ballparks to be serving these kinds of foods?"

RUSH: Like what?

CALLER: Well, like the high fat hot dogs and they're talking mainly about the sections at the ballpark where you pay one fee and you can eat as much as you want. You know, more and more ballparks are going to that, and they're saying it's socially irresponsible to do that because it's making people unhealthy.

RUSH: Let's see. I have logged into the story. The author of the story is Brett LoGiurato, if I'm pronouncing it right. This is part of the story: "Blurring the line between value and gluttony is something that worries nutritionists and health professionals about the promotion. 'Anytime you have an open buffet, people are more likely to eat more and drink more,' said Lona Sandon, a registered dietician and American Dietetic Association national spokesman. 'It's perceived as cost-effective. Well, not when it comes to your health.'" So the food Nazis are now moving into the ballparks with the aid and assistance of Sports Illustrated.

CALLER: Absolutely. Absolutely.

RUSH: Now, I want people to remember, you all laughed at me when I told you they were gonna try to get rid of your SUVs. And you all laughed at me when I told you, "This trans fat stuff, Rush, come on, salt stuff, not going to happen." And now the venerable Sports Illustrated is quoting a bunch of wacko leftist food Nazis. If they don't like what's being served at the ballpark, don't go. If they don't like what's being served at the ballpark, don't buy it. But it is none of their business. Oy vey. I'm telling you, the sports media is no different than the rest of the media. There is no media. It's just the ruling class. It's just a bunch of leftist drivel no matter where you go. And, of course, food at the ballpark, that's really caused a lot of premature death, right? We've been serving hot dogs, hamburgers, French fries, crackerjack, peanuts, cotton candy, this is the ruling class saying, "Don't let 'em eat cake." I guess so, grilled asparagus, arugula with watercress vinaigrette, salad and so forth. This is no different than the People for Science in the Public Interest, nutritionists. Obesity is a major problem in American ballparks. Right.

You know, in the National Football League every pregame meal is a buffet. The teams, every pregame meal is a buffet. You would not believe what's in your average NFL team pregame meal buffet. You would not believe it. NFL teams eat between four and five hours prior to a game, depends on the team, and the teams have their own nutritionists. And I've seen it. You would love to go to one. It's some of the finest food you've ever eaten. Well, most pregame meals are breakfast, given the time of the game but it doesn't matter what time of day the game is, the pregame meals buffet is the same. There's always omelet stations, pancakes, bacon, cheeseburger, French fries, steak, fried chicken, gravy, mashed potatoes, whatever they want. If you want five bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches, if you're an offensive lineman, you get it. Whatever you want. The eggs, any kind the way you want 'em, steak any kind the way you want it, fruit, healthy stuff too, what people would call healthy. But it is what it is.

Baseball does not have a pregame meal, although when I worked at the Kansas City Royals there really wasn't any food in the locker room. There was a beer keg for after the game that was unlocked after the game and after the game they did bring in a giant spread. The home team and the visiting team had a catered spread, a buffet that was brought in after the game. And some players ate it and some players didn't. Some players went out for dinner after the game, went home, others were sitting in there chowing down. But it's a buffet. Last time I was at a Major League Baseball park off the locker room there was a full-fledged restaurant available to the players from the time they got to the ballpark till the game. So if these people at Sports Illustrated want to complain about what fans are eating in the stands, they better take a look at what players are eating as well.

This is all absurd. It's none of their business anyway. It's none of their business. And to be concerned about buffets at the ballpark, folks, we're losing our freedom here! We're losing jobs. We have an attack on the American private sector. We have an attack on capitalism going on right before our very eyes. The country as we've known it and loved it is under assault. And the best we can do is have stories of great concern over the size of portions and the quantity and type of food available in the ballpark? We ought to be thankful there's still enough people that can afford to go to the damn ballpark and watch a ball game and pay ticket prices at the prices they have to charge these days to pay the players. Instead, what are we concerned about? The fat content of a hot dog on a buffet at a ballpark! Somebody want to point out we might have our priorities out of whack?

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: All right. I have this story here from SI.com: "Growing Trend: All-you-can-eat sections at big-league parks. More than half of all major-league ballparks offer all all-you-can-eat tickets." All-you-can-eat tickets? People are eating tickets? That can't be what they mean. All-you-can-eat tickets? "Fans appreciate the cost certainty, and it has boosted ticket sales in MLB. Nutritionists aren't big fans of the fad, which they fear encourages binge eating." I read the story during the break and the story is in large part about the Baltimore Orioles. Now, what are those fans supposed to do, go there and watch the team play? When you go watch the Orioles you've gotta do something besides watch the team play, and eating is one of the best things you could do to distract yourself. Everybody knows this. Now, seriously. Folks, this is a classic. This is a perfect example of propaganda from the left, pushing their agenda under the guise of journalism. There is no journalism here. This is Michelle Obama's agenda and now it's on the pages of Sports Illustrated, it's all about obesity.

AP, David Ginsburg: "First lady Michelle Obama showed off her throwing arm Tuesday after making a pitch to Major League Baseball to help her fight childhood obesity." Lo and behold, SI leads off, AP follows up. Look at how they work together. Michelle Obama "announced that MLB and the MLB Players Association will team with the White House in the 'Let's Move' campaign, which promotes exercise and healthy eating for America's youth." So there is no media. This isn't journalism. This is propaganda. This is pushing Michelle Obama's agenda at the Baltimore Orioles at Camden yards. "'To the entire MLB Players Association and all 30 players who agreed to be part of the public service advertising campaigns, it just means so much to these kids to see you guys joining in this,' Obama said at Oriole Park at Camden yards, home of the Baltimore Orioles. 'Your voice means so much more to them than anything we could say.' After the formalities, Obama, dressed casually in a print top, white pants and sneakers, joined members of the Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays in a clinic for kids from local baseball teams. Obama participated in all three stations for about a half-hour, playing catch, throwing grounders and shouting encouragement to the children."

Folks, my heart's bleeding. So sweet here, Major League Baseball now being co-opted by the White House in an obesity campaign. AP, you are no longer the Associated Press. They are the Orchestrated Press. They need an official new name, the Orchestrated Press, not the Associated Press. By the way, I'll bet Michelle Obama can throw a baseball better than Barack can. I'll bet if we saw videotape we'd all come to that conclusion.

Cookeville, Tennessee, this is Mary, and welcome to the-EIB Network hi.

RUSH: One of the reasons I wanted to be part-owner of the Rams was to be able to go to the pregame meal.

CALLER: (laughing) I just love chili dogs. I wanted to remind your listeners that when Obama was in the Gulf on one of his photo-ops he encouraged everyone to come on down, you know, the food is great, the water is fine, the beaches are beautiful, there's plenty to do, and he goes to Maine.

RUSH: Right.

CALLER: And flies the first dog on a private jet by itself.

RUSH: Well, yeah, there was also his aide-de-camp, bodyguard, body double, who knows who else, Reggie Love was also on the plane. Plus it was a small jet, it wasn't a full-fledged jet, I forget what it was, but, yeah, Bo the first dog flew on the jet.

CALLER: Well, I don't know why there wasn't room on the other one for the rest of them, but whatever, it's, you know, so much for carbon footprints.

RUSH: Exactly right.

CALLER: But I would love to know how many vacations he's been on since he encouraged everyone to go to the Gulf. Can you imagine what it would have done for the Gulf for him to go down there?

RUSH: No. It would have been just the opposite. I mean how many people have gone to Maine?

CALLER: (laughing) Yeah, that's true.

RUSH: You think if Obama goes to the Gulf anybody else is gonna follow? There's no way. You go where the president is, you can't get around, you can't do anything.

CALLER: But he could have set an example by going down there, vacationing.

RUSH: He did set an example. He told us what to do.

CALLER: Yes --

RUSH: That's how he set an example.

CALLER: -- as he says every time he opens his mouth.

RUSH: By the way, he's going back to Martha's Vineyard next month for his vacation.

CALLER: Ahhh, not the Gulf again. Okay.

RUSH: No. No, not going to the Gulf. There's no more reason to go to the Gulf. I mean they fixed the leak.

CALLER: Yeah, well, so far.

RUSH: See, everything's fine.

CALLER: Yeah, they should have been cleaning up before they fixed the leak.

RUSH: I think people were trying to. It was the administration officials who were getting in the way.